Can I own one here
Owning one in Missoula County.
On your own land, yes
Owning a kei truck and working it on a ranch, a farm, a mine or private property does not depend on a road title. Some states still ask for a title or an off road registration.
A 25 year truck on the road
Open to road use. Montana's Motor Vehicle Division titles and registers Japanese mini-trucks as unconventional light vehicles. Once the owner certifies its street equipment, a kei truck registers as a passenger car or truck with ordinary plates.
A newer governed truck
Off highway vehicle. Titled and registered as an OHV through the county treasurer. The title manual lets a mini-truck owner choose OHV instead of street-legal.
Roads and towns
Roads and towns in Missoula County.
To confirm. Missoula's city code opens no street to an unregistered off-highway vehicle and no Missoula County act opening a county road was found. A kei truck titled and registered street-legal drives them all.
In town Closed
- Closed Missoula. Title 10, Vehicles and Traffic, as the city posts it, was searched for off-highway, all-terrain, ATV, quadricycle and golf cart. It holds no section on off-highway vehicles and no authorization of one on a city street, so under MCA 23-2-824(2) an unregistered off-highway vehicle has no city street. Chapter 10.58 shows how the council treats a low speed vehicle: golf carts are barred under 61-8-391 unless the council authorizes limited operation on a written request to the police department. Only Title 10 was read, not the rest of the code. Missoula Municipal Code Title 10, Vehicles and Traffic, as posted by the city, last saved 31 December 2025; no off-highway vehicle ordinance in it, read 28 October 2026
County roads To confirm
No Missoula County ordinance or resolution opening a county road to off-highway vehicles was found. A search summary of a news report says the commissioners tabled in January 2021 a resolution on safe ATV use that encouraged safety and, in the county's own words, changed no law. The commissioners' resolutions were not searched. Under MCA 23-2-824(2) the board of county commissioners may give permission for an off-highway vehicle on a county road inside a municipality, and that permission need not be an ordinance. Part of the county lies within the Flathead Indian Reservation, where tribal and federal road authority applies on tribal and BIA roads, and a tribal rule on off-highway vehicles was not looked for. no county act read, read 28 October 2026
State highways Closed
Closed to OHVs.
Getting one here
From Japan to Missoula County.
The nearest ports with a sailing from Japan on record
- The Port of Everett, about 450 road miles.
- The Port of Seattle, The Northwest Seaport Alliance North Harbor, about 450 road miles.
- The Port of Tacoma, The Northwest Seaport Alliance South Harbor, about 450 road miles.
How to import a mini truck, step by step.
Trucks travel in containers, one to a 20 foot box with room for parts or three to a 40 foot box.
Road miles are an estimate, the straight line times 1.2.
The ground
Missoula County, counted.
Missoula County averages 74 inches of snow a year. Farms in Missoula County hold 238,191 acres of woodland. Missoula County is mostly urban, with 25 percent of its people outside urban areas.
Areas
The areas Missoula County is part of.
Importing a kei truck
The essentials, in short.
A truck under 25 can come in only as governed off road equipment, and only if its engine family held an EPA nonroad certificate for that model year. No kei engine family was certified for mini trucks before model year 2010, so a truck built after 30 October 2001 and before model year 2010 has no federal door until its 25th birthday.
Two lanes
A road truck must be 25 years old by its own build date. A newer truck comes in only as governed off road equipment with a certified engine.
The 25 percent duty
Every kei truck pays the 25 percent truck duty at the port, whatever its age.
The paperwork
The customs entry and the two federal declarations, DOT Form HS-7 and EPA Form 3520-1, travel with the truck to your title office.
The title
Keep every stamped paper with the truck. Your state title office asks to see them.
Contact
A question about the law in Missoula County?
Ask about a truck, a state or the papers, and we answer with what applies to you.
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